The Peanut Podcast
The Peanut Podcast, created by the National Peanut Board, delves into issues that are important to peanut growers and the industry. Join NPB staff hosts Lauren Highfill Williams and Ashton Pellom as they explore hot topics and future trends impacting the industry, including agriculture, sustainability, nutrition, allergies, culture, consumers and more.
The Peanut Podcast
Adventurous Eaters
Experiencing flavors from around the world is a priority for many consumers. Peanuts are a staple ingredient in traditional cuisines yet also find their way into new dishes with fresh takes on flavor pairings. Enjoying peanut foods is an easy way to pair familiar foods with the unfamiliar, ultimately allowing for more diverse palettes and opening the door to adventurous eating. Parents are also eager to raise more adventurous eaters. Diversifying a young palette can begin early with starting solids and including peanut foods in their diet. In this episode, we’ll explore exciting ways that consumers, restaurants and new parents are being adventurous with peanuts through interviews with Jennifer Anderson of Kids Eat In Color, Amanda Lemein of Golin, and content creator, chef, and cookbook author Jon Kung.
Hi. Welcome back to the peanut Podcast. I'm Lindsay Stevens.
Lauren Highfill Williams:And I'm Lauren Highfield Williams. Welcome to the latest episode of the podcast. This is also Lindsay's last episode as co host, Lindsay's three year tenure has focused on key grower and industry projects, including PQ magazine, news in a nutshell, and industry events. As of June 1, she's still going to be with us and has a new role and shifts her focus to marketing and communicating to consumers and working more closely with our partner agency Golin.
Lindsay Stevens:the good news is that the podcast is in great hands with Lauren and our new marketing and communications associate, Ashton Pellom. Ashton's background is in broadcast journalism and multimedia production, including working as a reporter for the NBC affiliate in Albany, Georgia. He owns his own video production company, where he provides filming, editing, public relations, management and consulting.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Ashton joined the team at an exciting time and got to attend our July board meeting in Savannah, where we presented our plan for the program of work and budget for the upcoming year. You can find out more about the meeting in our show notes, but right now, welcome Ashton.
Ashton Pellom:Thank you. Good morning, or Hi everyone. Hi Lindsay, Hi Lauren. My name is Ashton Pellom, as you guys stated up. My background is in broadcast news, so I've been a TV news reporter, which parlayed into a nice career in corporate communications and marketing, whether it be from nonprofit real estate or higher education, and now with the peanut board. So just bringing my wealth of knowledge of marketing and communication and broadcast experience to the peanut board, the National Peanut board, and I'm happy to be here. Excited.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Great. We're happy to have you,
Lindsay Stevens:yeah, thanks, Ashton. I'm excited for you to be more involved in the podcast.
Ashton Pellom:Me too.
Lindsay Stevens:Yeah. So now let's dive into this episode.
Lauren Highfill Williams:All right, so experiencing flavors from around the world is a priority for many consumers. Peanuts are a staple ingredient in traditional because traditional cuisines, yet also find their way into new dishes with fresh takes on flavor pairings. Enjoying peanut foods is an easy way to pair familiar foods with the unfamiliar, ultimately allowing for more diverse palates and opening the door to adventurous eating. Parents are also eager to raise more adventurous eaters. Diversifying a young palate can begin early with starting solids and including peanut foods in their diet.
Lindsay Stevens:In this episode, we'll explore exciting ways that consumers, restaurants and new parents are being adventurous with peanuts through interviews with Jennifer Anderson of kids eat in color, Amanda lemayne of Golan and content creator, Chef and cook author, John Kung
Lauren Highfill Williams:first, we spoke with Jennifer Anderson, the founder of kids eat in color, which gives parents support and guidance to help their kids eat better and thrive at mealtime. Here's Jennifer with a little about herself.
Jennifer Anderson:My name is Jennifer Anderson. I'm the founder of kids in color. I'm a registered dietitian. I have two boys who are very exciting, and I love talking about picky eating and all things feeding kids
Lauren Highfill Williams:With her background as a dietitian and a mom, here's what the concept of adventures eating means to Jennifer,
Jennifer Anderson:so if I think of a child who's going to be an adventurous eater, I think about that child who will try things more or less on the first exposure, and they're going to try a bunch of different things at the potluck, or they're going to eat this exact same food that their parents are eating in the exact same form, and that sort of thing.
Lauren Highfill Williams:If you are or ever have been a new parent, you know how overwhelming all of the advice can be that you get. So we asked Jennifer if she could give us her top two pieces of advice to help raise so called adventurous eaters. So first,
Jennifer Anderson:I'd like to just kind of reframe this. Are we really looking to get that adventurous eater? Some kids are going to be like that, and if you get that child like you won, you won the eating lottery. But most of us aren't going to have super adventurous eaters. And what we really want is competent eaters, kids who can meet their nutrition needs, they can engage socially and all the things they want to do, right? So when I think about that, two things that are just at the top of the list. One is eating together as a family as often as you can, whether that's at breakfast, at dinner on the weekends, whatever that is, the more the better for so many reasons. But it also can reduce that picky eating because you're modeling. Kids are in a in a an environment where there's maybe, hopefully, a little less pressure, there's more connection with the family, as long as these family meals are calm. And the other thing is having the food there, like actually seeing the food. Yeah. They have to be able to see it. If it's not there, they will never learn to eat it, I guarantee you, because it's literally not even there, they can't eat it. So modeling and exposure, those are the two big things. The more they see the foods, the more the foods become comfortable, and the more they say you eat them and they connect with you, the safer they feel the meal, and the more adventurous they can be.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Being an adventurous eater isn't just a fad or trend. It's actually very important for children to eat a variety of foods. Here's Jennifer with why,
Jennifer Anderson:yeah, so there's a couple things here. One is, we know, based on the research that we have now, the gut microbiome, all those little good guys down there, they really thrive on a variety so every single different plant food is going to feed a different bug, for lack of a better term microbe in your gut, and the more plant diversity you have in your diet, the better. That said, we're dealing with picky eaters, we're dealing with kids, we're dealing with schedules, our own capacity, budgets, so many things. So we just do the best we can with that. I try not to add pressure to ourselves. But variety is important. Number of foods is important. The other two reasons are. One is we want our kids to get the nutrients that they need right as they're growing and developing, and the more different foods they have, the more variety they get, not only of foods and fiber, right, but also of the nutrients themselves. So if your child is eating a variety from, you know, a bunch of different food groups, a bunch of different foods, there is a much higher likelihood that they're going to be meeting all of their nutritional needs because of that variety. And then the other reason is, you know, there's so many scary headlines this that the other, I mean, you name it, there's a scary headline about some new food I have over the eight years that I've been doing, kids eating color, someone has asked me about virtually every single food out there is this poison? Is this toxic? Is this bad? Like, there's always a scary headline out there. And every food has a downside. There's always some negative side to it, but when kids eat a variety of foods, they are both lowering the risk of those downsides as well as benefiting from the nutritional variety. So there's two sides to that. The more variety, the better.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Preventing food allergies plays into being able to eat a variety of foods as well. We know that introducing peanut foods to infants as early as four to six months can help prevent a peanut allergy. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends introducing other commonly allergenic foods around the same time as other solid foods. Here's Jennifer with her experience.
Jennifer Anderson:Yeah, so I'm not an allergist, so I really can't speak to the allergy research side of that. That would just not be my area of expertise. But based on the allergist that we have worked with, they have supported us in suggesting an early introduction for most children to to foods to help prevent those allergies. But again, this is definitely something you'd want to check in with your child's pediatrician on. When I think about, you know, these, this introduction sort of piece, when we're thinking about all foods, right? We want those adventurous eaters, or as close as we can get to them. We want our kids to feel comfortable and competent around food. We want all these things, and going back to those two most important things, it's exposure at eating together, right? So when we are thinking about those allergens and introducing them early and including them in the family meals and continuing to serve that variety of food as they get older. That is so important. And another thing is, another benefit of family meals is you're not going to be eating the same thing every day, probably because you as an adult, probably going to get bored of it, right? I'm not going to eat spaghetti every single day. I'm not that meal prep person who's like, I'm gonna make all my lunches for two weeks, and it's gonna be the exact same thing. I can't do that. Most families, Most families can't. And when you are including your child in the meal, they are gonna benefit from that variety as well. And so we don't have to, we don't have to wait to introduce foods to babies like you don't have to introduce a food, and then wait three days and then introduce, you can introduce all the foods, you know, as your family eats them to the baby, and then, you know, intentionally include things like peanuts and, you know, allergens and that sort of thing. They sell these little baby food Mills, and you just put dinner in the baby food mill, and you grind it up. So, if you, you know, if you're a pure a person, this provides a textured parade puree for your baby. If you're a, you know, a baby-led weaning person, there might be times where you don't want to, especially cut up the food, or you're in a place where you can't do the self feeding thing, you know, all that stuff. Um. Yes, you can just grind it up. It's so easy. Stick the ground, stick a little mill in your diaper bag, and you're good to go. But yeah, feed the baby what you're eating to the best of your ability. It doesn't mean you're it doesn't mean you're going to ruin the baby if you ever use baby food or special food.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Jennifer shared with us a couple of easy ways that parents can prepare foods, particularly with peanut butter, for their infants or young kids.
Jennifer Anderson:So I just went through like, three jars of peanut butter trying to recreate this peanut butter cookie that I used to make, like 15 years ago. And I don't know where the recipe went and and I remember them being magical, but I haven't quite figured it out again. But in the meantime, I have found, I did discover, like, a great cookie recipe. It's just like, half honey, half peanut butter. That's it. You like, put them, put them on the cookie sheet. 350 for you know, until they look done-ish. Let them cool completely on the sheet. That's like a nice moist, like cookie, super sweet, but that's it. Peanut, that's it. I think I little bit of little bit of chewiness to them, my kids or totally love them. So that's my new discovery of the week. And another fun thing we just did this last week. My, you know, my son had not eaten very well for dinner, and we always do bedtime snack. That's part of our mealtime routine. And so I usually think about, you know, what do they have for dinner? Was it substantial? If not, I'm going to provide a more, you know, substantial bedtime snack. If not, you know, you know, piece of fruit or whatever. So he hadn't even eaten very much at dinner. So I, I thought, we gotta, you gotta amp up the protein, the calories, all the things. So I cut a banana, like, just into little, like, coins, right? And then drizzle peanut butter on top. And he said, Oh, can I have chocolate chips. So, you know, it's like a little chocolate chip on every one of those. Now, he's, he's 11, so he, he like he knows about the chocolate chips. He knows about all the things. If he was two, there would be no need. But that is like a long standing loved snack in our house, especially, you know, when you want to take something like a piece of fruit, and make it a complete mall snack that's actually gonna keep them full for a while. Yeah. So those are two my favorites. And then I mean, with babies, I feel like you just put that peanut butter in whatever, any sort of creamy, any sort of creamy, or the food mill. Could always do the food mill. Add it into whatever you just ground up little bit peanut butter.
Lindsay Stevens:Next, I spoke with Amanda Lemein from our marketing agency Golin. Here's Amanda with a little about herself.
Amanda Lemein:I'm a registered dietitian at Golin. VP of nutrition and wellness is my official title. So as you can imagine, that includes being the subject matter expert for anything food and nutrition that the agency is working on, and a big part of my role is also media relations. I have a fair amount of experience in media relations, particularly in the health and wellness space, and that is also a big part of what I do for the National Peanut Board. So overseeing any nutrition claims, working with USDA on that messaging and claims, working very closely with Lauren and Markita, mostly on the consumer side, consumer nutrition side, but a little bit on the allergy side, and prevention of allergy side with them as well.
Lindsay Stevens:For some this could be the first time they're hearing about adventurous eating. So here's Amanda with her interpretation of what that means.
Amanda Lemein:Adventurous eating is really all about expanding pallets, being a little bit more adventurous in the types of foods that we eat, and inserting peanuts into that conversation in a way that really is quite natural to peanuts as they exist in cuisines all around the world. And to Americans the immediate thought when we think of peanuts and peanut butter, of course, is of peanut butter and jelly. But peanuts are so much more than that. And what I love about this campaign is it allows peanuts to really shine, and allows us to share with consumers all the different cuisines that you can enjoy peanuts in. I think a while back, we used to refer to peanuts as humble a lot, and while I think that's a wonderful adjective. I also think this campaign in particular shows off that we are indeed humble yet very versatile and very cultured too, and that peanuts can take you all around the world and really expand your palate. And that's what we are showing off with adventurous eating.
Lindsay Stevens:According to Amanda, as the general perception of health and wellness shifted away from weight loss, diets have become less restricted. Here's Amanda with more.
Amanda Lemein:I think consumer Nutrition has taken on a new persona within the last five ish years, we used to see, maybe five to 10 years ago, we saw nutrition as purely weight loss focused and a little bit more restrictive. And now I think consumers are so much more open to what food can do for them in a very non restrictive way, and I think that that opens the doors to enjoying diverse cuisines. Instead of recreating a recipe or recreating a cuisine to fit into whatever specific diet you might be following, I think people are much more open to enjoying their food and therefore trying different cuisines. And so I think that that is a big part of why people are more interested in expanding their palates lately, too, within the last several years. And that also trickles down to their children. I have two young kids. I can certainly attest that it can be really difficult to get your kids to eat certain foods, but millennial parents, Gen Z parents, are very excited and interested in getting their kids to eat anything and eat with them as a family, and I think this campaign is perfect for expanding a family's palate overall.
Lindsay Stevens:When it comes to picky eaters, peanuts and peanut butter could be a good stepping stone and becoming more adventurous. Here's Amanda.
Amanda Lemein:I don't feel like consumers were ever picky about peanuts or peanut butter, but they like put peanuts and peanut butter in a box, right? Almost like the humble peanut conversation, where it was like the inexpensive nut, the one we were all familiar with the one we all know, the one that sticks is PB and J, right? And I think we have seen a shift a little bit aligning with that interest in expanding palettes and understanding other cultural cuisines and what they really are, traditionally, not in like an Americanized way or a westernized way, but like a true cultural cuisine, and seeing that that can fit in with foods that we are familiar with, like peanuts and peanut butter. You know, we always say in our in our adventurous eating campaign, that peanuts are the perfect bridge to try something new, because they can be the familiar food amongst the unfamiliar, and I think that shift in the persona of peanuts has certainly led us to this campaign too, because we're moving away from the humble peanut and what consumers may be considered safe to seeing that this is the bridge to something more exciting, because it is safe to me, and I've tried it in this context, and now I can try it in something that's a little more diverse and exciting and new to me too.
Lindsay Stevens:As part of our adventurous eaters campaign, this year, we hosted the explorers market at a popular food market in Brooklyn, New York called smorgasbord. Here's Amanda with more.
Amanda Lemein:The peanut explorers market is all about showing how peanuts show up in cuisines around the world. Smorgasburg has many different food vendors who offer a variety of authentic cultural cuisines, and we partnered with all of these different vendors to show off how peanuts can appear in anything from a Vietnamese cold brew with a peanut cold foam to a paella using peanut oil and topped with peanuts and peanut sauce. And John Kung is a chef and content creator that we partnered with who is Chinese American and has a his cooking style is called Third Culture cooking, and it's really blending his two backgrounds, a Chinese American into his own unique cooking style. And he often uses peanuts in a lot of his cooking and gets tons of great content out of his amazing peanut recipes. So that that in person event the peanut explorers market has really allowed us to bring adventurous eating to life in front of a really captivated and interested foodie audience with the help of Chef John I wasn't at the event this weekend, but one anecdotal story that we have heard from our friend Christina billows is that so many of the consumers in New York this weekend were so excited to try all these dishes. And so excited to try, you know, the really spicy, flavorful foods and the more indulgent foods. But what they were most excited about was the peanut plant, and to learn more about the plant how peanuts are grown, fascinated that that is how a peanut is grown. And so, again, I just think that like aligns so nicely with the idea that this humble nut that we're all we as Americans are so familiar with can fit into a global food scene like it did this weekend, and still draw plenty of interest to where it all begins to with the plant.
Lindsay Stevens:While joining a popular food market in New York might not be feasible for everyone in the peanut industry, Amanda has creative ideas for how peanut brands and organizations can apply this idea of adventurous eating on the local level.
Amanda Lemein:On NPB's website, we have so many great recipes that go beyond what many of us are most familiar with or most comfortable with day to day. And I think tapping into those recipes that are less familiar, maybe to our marketers themselves too, is a great way to show off the versatility of peanuts and, you know, so many different cuisines. Of course, working with diverse influencers, I think is really important, but maybe an influencer who can speak authentically to a certain type of cuisine or recipe that you want to show off can only benefit us and layer in that extra context and that different perspective to that cuisine that I think is so important and and good for everyone to hear and understand. But I think also just sort of like looking locally, what are some of the things that you're seeing take off in your local atmosphere? What are things that people get excited about here in Chicago and I think so many other places, people get very excited about farmers markets and going to those markets and talking to the farmers themselves, and just developing that relationship and that sense of community. So if there's something like that that peanuts can be inserted into, and these, these recipes that we've been talking about, can also play a part in that, creating more of a community around the localization of peanuts, but then the globalization of how far they can they can reach in terms of recipes and cuisine. I think that's, you know, just another way to reach consumers in more unique ways.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Finally, we spoke with John Kung a chef, cookbook author and content creator from Detroit. Here's John with a little background on themselves.
Jon Kung:I have been in the industry, or I had been in the industry for about 12 years now. I'm a self taught cook, and I just kind of worked my way up through doing my own pop ups, working for other people's pop ups, to working for other people's restaurants, and then managing my own small private kitchen in the city of Detroit before the pandemic.
Lauren Highfill Williams:As Amanda mentioned, John's culinary style is called Third Culture cooking, which we feel goes hand in hand with adventurous eating. Here's what Third Culture cooking is, according to John.
Jon Kung:Third Culture cooking is, I'd like to describe it as an informed kind of fusion. So if you are a person of Third Culture, you pretty much spent your entire life bouncing back and forth between different cultures in your daily life. So for example, me, I grew up in a Chinese household, but that household was in Canada or the United States, and so my home life was very based and rooted in Chinese family tradition. But then, like as soon as I left the door, I crossed a little cultural threshold, and I needed to know how to change up my way of communicating, my way of understanding the world, my way of appreciating different things like art and food. And there are people like me all over this country and of all different ethnicities and cultures. And it's interesting because we all have very similar lived experiences, even though, like we may not even speak, are the same second language or first language as it were. Yeah, it is a very interesting way of living through life, and I do believe that our creative and cultural output is very rich because of it.
Lauren Highfill Williams:John has a unique take on what adventurous eating means to them.
Jon Kung:Adventurous eating, to me, is simply the understanding that to taste something and not like it is not the end of the world. It is a moment. That goes by. It is here. It's gone. It's whatever. You don't ever have to go through it again. But if you taste something new and you like it, that is a new love that you have for the rest of your life. And adventurous eaters appreciate that risk. It's just like, it's the only way that I've been able to describe it, like what qualifies an adventurous eater is like they just understand the benefits of trying new things. And as far as, like, a weird or strange peanut combination, combinations is actually reminds me of a story that that I went through like, when I was like, I think 16 years ago. I interned at a 24 hour noodle house in Macau in China. And in that kitchen I saw chef bring out, like, some bought some, like, glass jars of American peanut butter. I was shocked, and I like, didn't really understand for a second, and then it clicked in my head. I was like, oh, was is this for, like, the Dandan noodles, or Dandan mien? And then the chef was like, Oh my gosh, you're so clever. And I was like, first of all, that made me feel great, because traditionally, we use soybean paste, but at this restaurant, they found that the sweetness of the American peanut butter really meshed well with the soy sauce, the cilantro, the chili oil that was eventually put in the broth and the noodles. And so they were using American peanut butter in this for very, very famous, very historic and very well loved noodle dish in China. So that kind of like threw me off, because, like, the last place I ever thought I would see peanut butter American peanut butter was in this, like, 24 hour noodle shop in the middle of China. But yeah, it that that was one, like weird peanut combination that came to mind.
Lauren Highfill Williams:According to John, platforms like Tiktok and Instagram make it easy for chefs to try out new dishes and influences when they cook. Here's John with more about these Third Culture meals.
Unknown:I think the great thing about like short for me to like, Tiktok, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, is that people can so easily take control of their narratives now, like especially when it comes to food and our food journeys and our cultural dishes and our creative outputs. We don't really need to be filtered by any editor. We don't need to be vetted by any one publication, one website, one TV show anymore, or TV network, as it were. We can just literally share these foods that we love and live with, and it's great to see the response for that. People are curious. They want to know more, and they want to know from the source and as Third Culture people here in the United States, there are so many of us now, especially within like my generation, the millennials and then every younger generation. We're becoming a more like multicultural society, and from that, we're developing like foods that would never exist outside of here. So on the horizon, we have these Third Culture foods of all kinds, like, for me, it's Third Culture Chinese, but it could also be Third Culture Oaxacan. It could be Third Culture Nigerian, it could be Third Culture Ethiopian, Thai, Vietnamese, whatever it will be, these combinations and this intermingling of cultures that because nowhere else has this kind of proximity, nobody else has, or very few other countries has neighboring communities the way that We do it's like gonna be the future of American food.
Lauren Highfill Williams:John worked with us as part of our explorers market activation that Amanda told me about. Here's John with more.
Jon Kung:Yeah, this past Saturday at Smorgasburg, at Williamsburg, it was such an amazing time. There were like over 10 different peanut centric vendors there, and they kind of put like a peanut twist on some of their dishes. So for example, there was like a peanut cold foam Mocha, Vietnamese coffee. That's one thing from 88 coffee, a poppin' peanut chicken bites from big Mott's spicy style, peanut paella. And also a peanut butter and jelly baklava that was there too. That was super cool. Sadly, if you're listening to this right now, you missed it, but there is actually a website that you could try. It's also for if you're not in New York City, the explorers challenge is available online at explorepeanuts.com, and that is like an online quiz. Well, they will rank how adventurous of an eater you are, and based off of your score, they will be giving you a bunch of different recipes that you can choose from based on how adventurous it thinks you are.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Today we heard about adventurous eating being something as simple as Jennifer’s description of a kid trying a new food during a family dinner. Or it can tie into a newer concept of third culture cooking, like Jon described. And it’s exciting that adventurous eating ties into preventing food allergies in the youngest eaters so that they can enjoy all the foods the world has to offer as they grow like Amanda discussed. We hope that today’s episode inspired you to be a bit more adventurous in your own eating habits and that you might just be ready to try that Peanut Paella! Lindsay, we were really excited about some other examples of Adventurous Eating that came up on the foodservice side from a recipe contest we recently sponsored. Can you tell us about that?
Lindsay Stevens:Yeah, Lauren, it was so exciting to see these recipes from our food service recipe contest. We worked with this organization called Food works, and they sent us these great recipes that won the contest. One of them is like a tofu peanut butter pizza, which sounds really cool. There's like a spicy orange marmalade donut that seems awesome. And then there was like another, like, it was a different type of chicken pizza, which was really cool. But, like, they made the chicken using like, soy. So it's all like, vegetarian. It's really cool. Yeah, they were. It was really cool to see the directions actually to make the tofu on the peanut butter pizza. So it was a really cool recipe contest. And it was really amazing to see all the different ways that peanuts and peanut butter can be used in different cuisines and stuff. Which, if you want to see these recipes, we have them all linked in our show notes, so you can check those out and see how cool they are. They are food service size, though, so they're not made for like they're not portioned out for kitchens like yours or mine. They're more portioned out for restaurants kitchens so, but very cool, and it was a really cool contest.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Yeah, super inspiring recipes, and I think with that, you know, peanut butta pizza that won, they ended up using peanuts in like five different ways, which is pretty amazing. So definitely worth checking out the recipes on the website.
Lindsay Stevens:Absolutely. Well, so Lauren, I actually had a question for you. You have two kids, so I was wondering if either of your kids are adventurous eaters, and if you've tried out any of this stuff while you were training them to eat.
Lauren Highfill Williams:I think I really connected with talking with Jennifer for this episode and her ideas of like, it's the goal. We want our kids to be adventurous eaters, but and try everything on their plate all the time, but we have to be realistic. It's you can't go from zero to 60 overnight. It's a process. So I am thankful that I don't have super picky children. But my oldest daughter, she's eight, she is she's pretty gung ho for vegetables in particular, and she's a great example for her younger brother, who is three years old, and we like to say is learning to like vegetables. He is still on a path, so we'll put the green beans on his plate every time his sister has some, and most of the time they just sit there. But every once in a while, he gives it a try and makes a face, and we say, good job for trying. You might like it next time. So we just try to keep it, you know, low pressure and eating is about fun and, you know, experiences and being together. So, I have faith that it's gonna that we're gonna have some adventurous eaters on our hands in the future.
Lindsay Stevens:Yeah, no, it reminds me of what John said when he said, an adventurous eater, in his opinion, is someone who's willing to take that, you know, quick moment of time to see if they like something or not, and know that if they don't like it, it's not the end of the world, and they can try something else new later, so.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Yeah, yeah, really low key, low pressure experimentation that's Keeping it positive. Those are the most important things!
Lindsay Stevens:Yes, so Lauren, as you know, it's my last episode, and I have a peanut podcast centric question for you, and I think we want to bring Ashton back into this so he can get accustomed to these trivia questions we have at the end of the episode.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Yeah
Ashton Pellom:I'm here. I'm ready for it. Let's go.
Lindsay Stevens:Okay, so my question to you today is, how many guests have been on the peanut podcast, including this episode?
Lauren Highfill Williams:That's a tough one.
Ashton Pellom:How many episodes have there been?
Lindsay Stevens:Ashton, come on. You should know this. We're on 29
Ashton Pellom:Okay, gotcha. Um,
Lauren Highfill Williams:yeah, and we do, I would say, like three to four, four average guests per episode. I'm gonna have to dig down. I have to look at my my calculator. No lie,
Lindsay Stevens:there's a lot of math going on here with y'all.
Ashton Pellom:Oh yeah, about to say, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say about, let's say two. 250 oh
Lauren Highfill Williams:my gosh, wow,
Lindsay Stevens:250. Okay, okay.
Lauren Highfill Williams:I was I, I think that was an overestimation. But then I just broke the calculator out, and that number is still really high of what I was thinking. So I'm gonna say 115 based on three or four guests per episode.
Lindsay Stevens:Well, I'm not gonna lie. I was expecting y'all to get us much lower. So this, this number feels less impressive now. We've had 97 guests, which I thought was a lot, until we broke out 150 and 250 so yeah, but yeah, 97 people have been on our podcast to talk about peanuts and different ways to, you know, use peanuts and all of that. It's really cool.
Ashton Pellom:That's no that's definitely a lot of guests, a lot of guests.
Lauren Highfill Williams:That's amazing. I feel like we should, like, really do it up maybe for next episode, when we'll have our 100th guest. You know, we can really celebrate that.
Lindsay Stevens:No pressure to whoever the 100th guest is.
Ashton Pellom:Yes.
Lauren Highfill Williams:I know, right. Oh, my goodness. Well, that was a really cool stat and trivia question. Thanks for pulling that out, Lindsay, and you have been such a valuable part of this team, and so happy that you're continuing to, you know, make your mark on the National Peanut Board, and we'll, we'll miss you on the podcast, but glad we still have you at the office.
Lindsay Stevens:oh my gosh, like, it's like a tear. Oh my gosh, thank you, Lauren, that means the world. I missed the podcast a lot. It was, it was so cool to I feel like I've learned so much by being a part of this. It really felt like each episode was like a different lesson in like, peanuts that I got to learn. So it was really cool. And, you know, this was just an awesome experience. I can't wait to pass the torch.
Lauren Highfill Williams:Yeah, wonderful.
Lindsay Stevens:Well, thank you again for listening to the peanut podcast. Our show's engineer and sound designer is next gen. We'd also like to note that our guest segments may be edited for length and clarity and to comply with USDA guidelines.
Lauren Highfill Williams:And as always, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on the platform you're listening on, and if you would like to find out more about what we've talked about today, then go to National Peanut board.org/podcast, we'll see you later on this summer for our next episode in September, bye bye,
Lindsay Stevens:bye!
Ashton Pellom:bye!
